I know that the world needs to know the following for it is a breakthrough of titanic proportions:I have hit the West Coast baby! So, little ol' me, the youngest of the boys, and the tallest of the children; James, Jimmy, Angry Jim Bob, the great Jimbo has gone forth to live in California!
So I thought it would be fun to start this blog nearly the same as the last one. I don't have my computer yet so there will be no pictures until I can get mine sent from home.
I have gone to the Air Force Basic Military Training. It was in San Antonio Texas. I lived there for 7 weeks. I arrived in San Antonio and spoke briefly with a few people ( I think Syrissa had the most air time actually ) then went to the USO (the military is a world of acronyms and I'm not sure what that stands for) and sat in nice big leather lazy boys and watched TV and took a nap all day until about 5. That was the last time I slept in a lazy boy until this morning. In fact, that was the last time I was comfortable for a long while.
I left Utah at about 40 degrees. I arrived in Texas at about 95 degrees and 70 something humidity. I got off the plane and was hit it the face by the thick muggy air. I began to sweat until I got back on a plane almost two months later. About 5 o'clock a Basic Military Training Instructor (BMTI or TI) came and hauled us all out to sit on hard wooden benches engeneered for the absence of comfort and the maximum ability for someone to lose the feeling in their legs when sitting with backs straight, head and eyes straight foward, knees bent at 90 degrees, heels touching making 45 degree angle, and hands on your lap with fingers touching and extended with your thumb along your forefinger. We were given a short briefing about tucking in shirts and no jewlry then sent to a bus. When we got on base at Lackland Air Force Base I fully expected a TI to get on the bus and start yelling. We actually were herded off and into an auditorium. A few people started telling what to do and where to sit while our medical records were gathered and sorted. (I didn't realize at the time that they were not TI's but holdover airmen waiting to go to tech school)
We were all marched upstairs to get our feet scanned and a lunch sack. We were given a BMTStudyGuide book, pens, highlighter, handsanitizer etc that we would then carry until graduation. Briefed on some rules. Marched up to our rooms by a TI on our instructor team (not my actual TI but one that would show up from time to time to inflict pain) we marched up to our dorm and found beds and lockers all neatly aligned and organized. We were told to shower and shave and get into bed. By shower and shave I mean literally two minutes to get our stuff and into the Latrine (bathroom or restroom for most folks but since there was neither a bath nor time to rest it is not called by those names) to be done shaving. I was fast on my mission but two minutes is almost so fast you could slit your throat but it is so fast you cannot even dwell on the thought until later. We showered. We = 51 new trainees who still smell like civilians. Stripped down and filed through a square room with 8 shower heads in it. Four on one wall and 4 more on the opposite wall. The whole time with someone yelling faster, faster, faster. The best part was we had to count to shower. 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! 1,2,3,4,5 Switch! Do the math. Five seconds times 8 shower heads= that's right 40 whopping seconds to shower. Try it sometime. Now remember, in those 40 seconds you need to scrub off all of the sweat from 24 hours-yes you even sweat at night.)
Our days were usually started at 0445 (if there wasn't an excuse to begin before that-and trust me our TI was very imaginative) We would go to Physical Readiness Training (PRT or PT) it would consist of running, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and many other things just so we would wake-up. Shower, then go to the dining facility (or eat then shower depending on the day. We actually would shower in the morning and the night)
The Dining facility was were you form up into 4 colums (or elements) of however many people it takes to fit everyone in. You stand at attention outside the Chow Hall and are then called in (that later became my job. I called in the elements when there was enough space for another one to enter.) to eat. You sign in on a roster. You sidestep with your hands on your tray, tray touching the tray of the people next to you, head and eyes straight foward back straight, without bending your knees and get the food put on your tray. You then are directed to a table to "Seat, Eat and Get Out." You now have about 4 minutes (to maybe 6 in later weeks or 7 if you TI gets distracted) to shovel, cram, stuff, or by any means possible funnel the food into your gullet and get the crap out of the chow hall. The bad part is that there are usually 3 or more TI's on the prowl yelling at people. I only almost choked once. And one time I had the chair I was sitting in pulled out from underneath me and thrown across the room. I had to get the chair and get out. I look back now at laugh at that, but at the time it was not very funny.
We had several stages of in-processing. Shots, uniforms, dress uniforms, PT evaluations etc. We had classes on military history to first aid and defense classes to offense.
The people were as diverse as the son of a president of a country who owns 3 construction companies and a computer networking company who wants to be a part of the greatest air power in the world to a drug dealer who saw his life circling the drain and needed a way out.
I have graduated from basic training!
I moved to Monterey California. I am on an Army Post. There are more Airmen than Soldiers, Marines, or Sailers. It is beautiful and nice and cool. There is mist sometimes in the mornings. There are deer that are very accustomed to people that just wonder around. I will slowly gain freedoms as time goes along. I was given an in-brief about our class today and tomorrow will begin english review and then a week from tomorrow begin the Chinese course. I was issued a 30G video ipod to help me learn chinese I am sure I will learn more about that in the coming week. I will also recieve a tablet computer in a month or so. I have plenty of time to eat now. I love it. I am still addicted to ice cream. I also am growing very fond of cheese cake =D.
This is my brief overview of basic and my current status. More to come so stay tuned!!!